Russian food ban won't affect most trade, Coveney claims

The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, claims the majority of Ireland's trade with Russia won't be affected by a ban on food exports.

Russia has announced a year-long ban on almost all food products coming from the EU, United States and Australia.

The ban is in response to sanctions imposed on Russia over events in Ukraine.

The move will affect around €235m worth of Irish exports - or around 2% of the total Irish food industry.

But Minister Coveney said Ireland has plenty of other trade links with Russia that aren't affected.

"Russia has a huge consumer population," he said, "and they like high-quality premium foods, which is what Ireland produces."

"Clearly, now some of those opportunities have been cut off for the next 12 months. But a lot of the other trade is ongoing - so the majority of the trade last year should be maintained, even with this ban."